Optimistic Cornbread

Happy Sunday all! A day of long runs, entire newspapers, pre-dinner walks (one of which is about to happen) and realising that Underworld: Rise of the Lycans really is one of the worst movies ever made.

We have a TV in the kitchen and normally when I'm cooking I have an extraordinarily high crap tolerance because I just want something in the background that I can tune out and in at will. But even this was too much. And here's the thing, guys, I've totally seen this movie already. In it's entirety. In a movie theatre. I claim being in love with Michael Sheen as an excuse, but . . . wow. I tuned in to the SyFy channel and made it through approximately three minutes of Steven Mackintosh talking to la Sheen through the bars of a dungeon before grunting in disgust and switching to one of my many DVR'd episodes of Hoarders. I know, I know, it's a horrible exploitative show and I'm a bad person for watching it blah blah blah. I can't explain it, you guys, I find it soothing. I'm a borderline OCD germaphobe neat freak and I like watching Hoarders. I'm not expecting you to understand, or forgive. I simply state it as fact.

But I digress.

In the vein of "if I do things that are spring-like maybe spring will come eventually" (I only needed two fleeces to run today! Progress!) I decided to make cornbread. But not just any cornbread. Lemon Thyme Cornbread. This came about because I realised just how much thyme we had in the fridge, and rather than use it again for dinner, decided to bake.

I used the Martha Stewart "Polenta Quick Bread with Lemon and Thyme." "Polenta Quick Bread", I feel, is just a very Martha Stewart-y way of saying "cornbread." Much like "decoupage your entire living room with reclaimed doilies" is another way of saying "lie very still in a dark room with a cold compress on your face." See? Same thing. ANYWAY.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON LEMON THYME CORNBREAD

BEETLE NOTES:
I doubled the recipe, because I wanted one for mum and one for her library. And I gotta tell you. Doubling the recipe basically made one recipe's worth. I divided it into two loaf pans but I could have gotten away with using only one.



THIS, dear reader, is the colour of spring.

I used one recipe's worth of sugar because Martha tends to go too sweet. I also did NOT add pine nuts because I think pine nuts are gross. To offset that, I bumped up the lemon zest/juice and the thyme. When everything is mixing together it smells heavenly and is such a lovely bright yellow colour.



 

Once the thyme is all mixed in and then the flours it
goes really pale golden and fluffy. And smells divine.

See how I put a line of thyme leaves down the centre of each one?
Yeah. That's how I roll.

 

I just tipped one loaf out, as you can see, it's definitely not a thick one (doubled recipe my ass) but it smells divine, and it cuts well. It's got a very crumbly texture, almost shortbready I want to say. I think maybe next time I'll add a little milk and see if that makes it more cakey.

The Mum verdict is that it tastes very nice, and is a good savoury cornbread. I will attempt to make it thicker and stickier next time round, but for now she says it's a keeper.

So with that bring on cornbread and warm sunshine! Also never watch Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. Save yourself. Eat cornbread instead.

 

It's fish Sunday dinner tonight, so yay. Spinach and smoked trout and, my personal fav, pickled herring. That's ok that you're wrinkling your nose. More for me. Beetle out.